chase



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

(No Model.)

RCHASE. NAH'y PRESENTING AND DRIVING MECHANISM. Nm 547,662;

Patented oet. 8, 1895.

(NoModel.) 2 sheets-sheet 2.

`F0HASB. NAIL PRESENTING AND DRIVING MBGHANISM.

FRANK CHASE, OF MALDEN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO FRANK F. STANLEY, TRUSTEE.

NAIL PRESENTING-AND DRIVING MECHANlSlVl.

SPECIFQATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 547,662, dated October 8, 1895.

Application and May 29, 1894..k

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK CHAsn, of Malden, county of Middlesex, State ofvMassachusetts, have invented an'Improvement in Nail Presenting and Driving Mechanism, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specication, like letters and figures on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention has for its object the production of a novel tool for receiving nails in bulk and feeding them into a revoluble carrier, from which they pass into a nose, said revoluble carrier also forming a guide for the driver, said carrier taking onenail after another and discharging it through an auxiliary nail-passage into the nose at a point under the said carrier, so that it may be struck by the driver and driven into the work when the nose of the driver is pressed to the work to receive the nail.

In accordance with my invention the upper end of the raceway is provided with bearings for the reception of a shaft having a connected lfeed-table which is covered by a cup-shaped cap, said feed-table being located within the curb conn ected to the upper end of the raceway, the edges of the cap resting, preferably,

close to or on the top of the curb, the diame-v ter of the feed-table being enough smaller than the interior diameter of the curb as to leave a narrow substantially circular slot, into which the Shanks ofthe nails to be driven may drop and hang therein from their heads and travel in said slot as the table is reciprocated, the nails finally entering the open upper end of the raceway and passing therefrom into a vertical slot madein one side ofa revoluble carrier, through the center of which the driver reciprocates, the slot in said carrier being in line with the lower end of the raceway when the driver is in its elevated position, and in this instance of my invention, wherein the slot is cut to intersect the driverpassage, the nail as it leaves the raceway comes against the side of the driver; but as the driver descends it through suitable actuating mechanism actuates the carrier and effects a partial rotation thereof, so asto place its open slot containing the nail in line with an auxiliary nailpassage into y which the nail is Serial No. 512,899. (No model.)

dropped, said auxiliary passage leading the nail into a space in the nose located below the said carrier, where the nail is stopped by one sideof the driver then acting upon and driving a nail, and later when the driver is elevated it retires from the said nail, letting it drop a little farther toA meet an arresting device which yields to the pressure of the nail when acted upon by the driver at its next descent.

Figure l in side elevation represents a sufficient portion of a nail presenting and driving mechanism with one of its side plates removed With my improvements added to enable my invention to be understood. Fig. 2 is a section thereof in the line on, the hopper or nail-supply being. removed; Fig. 3, an enlarged elevation of the upper end of the raceway with the cap referred to. Fig. 4 is a top or plan view of the feed-table, together with part of the mechanism for actuating it, to gether with its surrounding curb b. Fig. 5 is an enlarged sectional detail through the feeding-table and cap, raceway, and part of the frame to be grasped by the hand. Fig. 6 is a partial top view and section of the devices shown in Fig. 5 below the line the section in Fig. 5 being alongthe line 002, Fig. 6. Fig. 7 is a detail showing the revoluble carrier; Fig. 8, a section thereof in the line ac3; Fig. 9, a detail showing part of the driverwith its wing, which insures the discharge of the nail from the carrier into the auxiliary nail-passage and thence into the nose. Fig. 10 is a top view of the nose removed from the frame and with the carrier taken out and the raceway omitted. Fig. 1l isan enlarged perspective view of the lower end of the raceway.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the main part of the hand-frame of my improved hand-nailer, the said frame having a removable side piece A2, confined in position by means of a ring A3, clamped about the two parts by a suitable screw A4, the lower ends of the frame being connected by a screw A5, another screw A6 serving to unite the raceway B to a projection A7 of the part A. The

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contact with an up-stop or cross-bar c, fixed to the removable side piece A2.

The edge of the driverbar is notched, as

best represented in Fig. 1, and is made cam i shape to operate and be engaged by a dog d, pivoted at d and acted upon by a suitable springcontrolled latch d2. The edge of the driver-bar has a shoulder or stop 10,Which is engaged by the dog d, as shown in Fig. 1, when the driver-bar is in its most elevated position, and at a proper distance above said shoulder 1 The said bar has a dog-releasing `cam l2. lower end'of the dog d is normally kept pressed toward the driver-bar, as shown in Fig. 1, by the spring-controlled latch d2. When the driver descends far enough to properly drive a nail from the nose, the nose forming the end of the frame of the machine, the releasing-cam 12 meets the head of the dog and turns its lower end outwardly,`so that the spring-latch bears on the opposite edgeof the head of the dog and keeps the lower end of the dog out away from the driver-bar, so that as said driver-bar begins its ascent the lower end of the dog will not meet the shoulder 10, but as soon as the said shoulder meets the head of the dog it will act to restore the dog into its normal position. (Shown in Fig. l.) Should, however, the driver-bar fail 'to complete a stroke or move far enough to properly drive a nail, such lmovement `being insuihcient by reason of carelessness or otherwise, then the dog-releasing device 12 will not descend far enough to strike the head of the dog and turn it, as before described, far enough to enable the latch to hold the lower endof the dog out of the path of movement of the shoulder 10 as the driver-bar next rises, and con sequentlysaid shoulder l() meets the said dog and the ascent of the driver-bar is prevented. It will be understood, consequently, that the driver-bar cannot rise to its full extent unless at its previous descent the nail then below the driver-bar has been properly driven.

The lower end of the lever ct'lis suitably shaped to engage and move a rack e, kept in suitable guideways of the framework by the plate A2, said rack being jointed at its inner end by a link e to an arm e2, connected to a shaft e3, mounted in a suitable bearing of -aV curb l), attached to or forming a part of the upper endof the raceway, said curbreceiving within it a feed table or plate composed, essentially,"of a disk e4, attached to or forming part of the said shaft and "having applied to it at its under side a disk e5,9the peripheryof which forms the inner side of the sloteinto which may drop theshanks ofthe nails tobe driven, they following thegrooveor circular passage formed between the saiddisk e5 and the inner wall of the curb tothe slotted upper end of the raceway B, where the said nails leave the said slot e6 and enter the groove in the raceway.

The disk e4 has fast upon it an agitator el, the latter being held in place by a screw 63,51. suitable pin or projection e connecting the said disk e4 with the said disk e5, and thereby forming the feed-table.

The shaft e3 receives in it a suitable screw f, which is passed through the cap f', made like a cup, the edges of which, as herein represented, rest upon the upper end of the curb b, the said cap having a suitable door f 2, which may be opened outwardly and which is normally kept closed by a suitable spring f3.

The lever a is fully reciprocated once for each full operationof the driver-bar in the case A,said driver-bar being moved by striking its upper end by the hand or in other `suitable manner. As thedriver-bar is thrown down,the'cam portion thereof (see Fig. 1) will push the upper end Aof the lever'ct in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 1, which will effect the sliding of the rack e and the movement of the feedtable.

At each movement of the feedtable, which is at times quite freque`nt-as, for instan ce,when a `numberof nails are to be driven in quick succession-the agitator e7, by striking the nails placed in bulk on the feed-table and covered by the cap, throws said nails against the inner side of the cap, so that some of them drop into the slot e6, which is really the commencement of the raceway, and the said table and the said disk e5 by their movement aid the nails in following the circular slot e to the open top of the raceway. I have shown part of the periphery or edge of the feedingtable as cut away sufficiently to leave a shed or web f to overlap the heads ofthe nails in' the slot e, said shed also performing the im portant function of a protector for the heads of the nails hanging in the slot e, said shed lying between the heads of the nails going to the raceway and `the `bulk of nails lying on the feed-table. To eieet the proper introduction'of the said nails into the slot e6 with their heads under the shed and so that the heads will rest properly on a shoulder b4 of thecurb and "a corresponding shoulder on the disk e5, I have out away the said shed or web for a part of its periphery (see Figs. 5 and 4) to leave inclined ends 2 2 with an open slot between, said ends acting on the heads of the nails during `the reciprocations of the table and settlingthe bodies of some of said nails properly into the slot e6.

The handpiece has connected toits lower `end asuitablenose g, having an outlet at its bottom for a nail, said nose containing a spring controlled nail-support or gate g', which normally stands in and partiallycloses thenose-outlet, said gate serving to sustain the upper end of each nail while the driver descends to meet the head of the nail to drive it ont throughthe nose. The handpiece contains a revoluble carrier 71, (shown detached ICO IIO

in Figs. 7 and 8,) said carrier having an enlarged head or upper end h', having a series of teeth to be engaged by the rack e, said carrier also having a slot 3 at one side, which at times stands in the line of the opening in the raceway, so that a nail can enter said opening and come, it may be, in contact with the driver c', then standing therein. As the driver descends to drive a nail sustained by the'gate g', the lever a is moved, moving the rack e in the direction of the arrow near it in Fig. 6, which movement imparts a partial rotation to the carrier, causing it to move the opening 3 therein opposite the auxiliary nailpassage 4L in the handpiece, so that said nail may enter said auxiliary passage; but should the nail fail to enter said passage, then as the driver descends the projection 5 on said driver will come behind the head of and will strike the nail, causing it to be transferred into and so as to follow down said passage into the space l5 in the nose; but said nail does not pass to the gate, for the driver, it then driving a nail from the nose, occupiesa position in said nose, so that the nail entering the latter drops against one side of the driver. After the driver has driven a nail and the driver-bar is elevated to lift the driver, the nail, resting against the side of the driver and then in the nose below the carrier immediately drops down to and is arrested by the gate g,'and as the' driver-bar completes its ascent it acts through the lever ato move the latter in the direction opposite the arrow thereon and moves the rack e in the direction to again put the slot 3 of the carrier opposite the lower end of the raceway to receive another nail.

Fig. ll-shows the shape of the end of the raceway, it being concaved to substantially fit andv form a bearing for one side of the revoluble carrier, one of the walls of the lower end of the raceway being reduced -in thickness toward the bottom ot' the'raceway to prevent any clogging'of'the nails which should enter the slot 3 in the side of the said carrier.

I have found by practice that by cutting away one portion of one side wall of the delivery end of the raceway and rounding the same to .present a sort of convex cam-surface, as in Fig. ll, all tendency of the point of the endmost nail of the raceway sticking to the raceway when it should be taken off by the carrier is obviated, and so also the tendency of the point of the next to the endmost nail to sag forward and enter the slot in the carrier h is practically prevented.

From the foregoing description it will be understood that the driver-bar by its position determines whether or not the nail-carrier shall be moved or oscillated back into its position to receive from the raceway a nail, and it will be understood that in case the driverbar should fail to be moved farenough to properly drive the nail then under the driver the driver-bar will not ascend far enough to eiect the backward movement of the carrier,

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and consequently a nail -will vnot be taken from the raceway unless the nail previously taken therefrom has been properly driven.

When the carrier is in a position to enable its open slot to be putin register with the auxiliary nail-passage, then a part of the carrier `acts as a stop to prevent the escape of nails from the raceway.

The feed-table, located within the surrounding curb, and the cap f constitute a hopper, and the feed-table constitutes a movable bottom for the hopper.

The carrier h performsthe function of a driver-guide, and, as shown, the center of motion of said carrier is substantially coincident with the center of the driver, and the driver when it meets a nail to drive the same meets said nail always below the lower end of the carrier and in the nose terminating one end of the framework or handpiece.

This invention is not limited to the exact construction shown for the devices intermediate the driver-bar and driver and the movable feed-table or to the exact devices shown for effectingthe movement of said table or of said carrier. Y y f Y The carrier in this my invention does not act as a pick-off to take a nail from the end of the raceway and carry said nail directly under an elevated driver, so that said nail is driven from said carrier in line with its center of motion, but, on the contrary, the carrier merely travels between ythe endof the raceway and an auxiliary nail passage, through which a nail is driven by a device 5, in this instance of my invention shown as attached to and movable in unison with the driver; but this invention is not limited in all instances to connecting said device 5 directly to the driver or operating it directly from the driver.

The feed-table, occupying in use an inclined position and constituting the bottom plate of the hopper to support the nails in bulk, has its shed or flange f6 partially cut away to leave a space terminated by projections 2 2, which projections as the plate is moved or reciprocated act on the nailsin said space between said projections and serve to arrange the nails in the slot e6, leading to the upper end of the raceway, the heads of -the nails passing along said slot to the raceway under said shed or tlange.- By the expression nail I intend to cover and include any headed nail or tack.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent,

l. In a machine for driving nails, the following instrumentalities, vizz-aV raceway;` a nose, a nail passage leading thereto, a carrier located at the'end of said raceway and having a slot A'to receive a nail, said carrier being adapted in its movements-to take a nail from the raceway to said nail-passage, combined with a driver-bar having a driver, and a device to act on the nail in the carrier and posi- ICO 4 seneca tively move the nail out of the carrier and into said nail passage below said carrier, substantially as described.

2. In a nail driving machine the following instrumentalities, vizz-a raceway to receive and guide loose nails; a drivenbar having a driver; a carrier located at the end of said raceway, and having a slot to receive a nail from the raceway, a device to act on the nail in the carrier and positively move it out of and below the carrier; and means under the control of the driver to prevent a nail being taken from the end of the raceway until after the nail previously taken from said raceway has been driven, substantially as described.

3. In a nail driving mechanism, the following instrumentalities, vizza frame pieceihaving a nose and an auxiliary nail-passage; a raceway having a curb, a movable feed-table therein constituting the bottom of a hopper adapted to contain loose nails; a revoluble carrier having a central passage to act as a driver guide, and having at one side a slot to receive a nail from the raceway; a driver-bar; devices to actuate the carrier and take a nail from the raceway to the said auxiliary nailpassage, and means to positively move the nail through the carrier and into said nailpassage, substantially as described.

4. In a nail driving mechanism, a raceway having at its receiving end a curb in the plane of the raceway combined with a concentric circulariy movable feed-table the pe riphery of which constitutes one side of a curved passage-way to receive the bodies of and lead nails to the upper end of the slot in the said raceway, the curb constituting the other side of the passage-way, substantially as described.

5. The raceway, and its curb, provided with an interior shoulder upon which may rest the heads of nails thc bodies thereof depending below the shoulder; combined with a feed-table, and a shed or web thereon to overlap the heads of nails properly supported on their way to said raceway, said shed or web serving to protect the heads of the nails going to the raceway from the action of loose nails lying on said feed table, substantially as described.

6. A raceway, and a nail-receiving passageway leading to the entrance thereof, a hopper provided with an inclined oscillating bottom, having at its upper edge a recess to permit nails to pass into the nail-receiving passageway, andan agitator below the center of oscillation of and on the hopper bottom, whereby the movement of the agitator throws the nails upward along the inclined hopper bottom and into the recess, substantially as described.

7. The raceway, and a movable carrier cooperating therewith, having a slot to receive a nail from said raceway, combined with a longitudinally movable wedge-like device having a shoulder, said device entering the slot in the carrier behind the nail and pushing the same laterally from the slot, the shoulder thereafter acting upon the head of the nail to 'force it down away from the carrier,substan tially as described.

8. An inclined raceway having an attached curb in the same plane thereof, a movable table surrounded by said curb and constituting the inclined bottom of the hopper, to receive nails in bulk, the periphery of said table also forming one side of a passageway leading to the upper end of the raceway, the curb forming the other fixed side thereof, and an agitator, combined with means to move said feed table and agitator, for the purposes set forth.

9. The raceway having a concave end to form a bearing for one side of the carrier, and having one of its end walls cut away to form an outwardly inclined cam face, combined with a movable slotted carrier mounted at and to move across the end of said raceway, and with means to move said carrier, said concave bearing and cam face preventing the injurious catching of nails, substantially as described.

l0. A raceway having an attached curb, a cap eo-operating with said curb, combined with a movable feed table provided with a projecting shed or web cut away for a portion of its length to enable the heads of nails to pass below said shed or web as the bodies of said nails lie in the slot communicating with the upper end of the raceway, said shed or web acting as a protector for the heads of nails properly suspended and en their way to the raceway, and to keep said heads from being acted upon by the loose nails placed in bulk upon the top of said feed table, the latter constituting the bottom of ahopper, substantially as described.

Il. In a nail presenting and driving mechanism, the following instrumentalities, Vizz a hopper' to receive nails in bulk, an inclined movable nail-supporting plate therein having a nail passage communicating with a slot to receive nails to be conducted to a driver, said plate having projections to arrange the nails in said slot, to operate, substantially as described.

l2. In a nail presenting mechanism, the following instrumentalities, vim-a raceway, a connected curb, forming a continuation of the sides of the raceway, a plate therein occupying an inclined position and sustaining the nails in bulk, and a shed or lip at the periphery of the said plate, it acting as a cover for a passageway which leads nails to said raceway, the curb forming the outer side thereof, combined with an agitator to cause the nails to be moved into position to enter said pas sageway, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have. signed my name to this specification in the presence o two subscribing witnesses.

FRANK CHASE. Witnesses:

GEo. W. GREGORY, EMMA J. BENNETT.

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